In the production of a necktie it is necessary to apply a lining to the back of the finish goods at both the broad and narrow tip ends of the tie. This lining must be stitched to the finish goods along a pair of angled end seams that meet at a point at the very tip of the tie, and along a pair of side seams that extend generally parallel to each other from outer ends of the ends seams up the goods somewhat.
Such seams are normally produced manually by juxtaposing the finish goods and liner together, good faces in, and then forming the stitching. Since the lining must not be visible from the front of the tie, it is necessary to provide some margin clearance in that the finish goods must wrap at the end seams at least around to the back through a distance of 5 mm to 10 mm.
This is done by first stitching the two end seams, then carefully shifting the finish goods by the seam allowance forward, and then stitching the side seams with some offset to allow for margin clearance there too. If done expertly the result is quite neat and very attractive, so the job must normally be done by a highly skilled stitcher.
Accordingly a tie-tipping apparatus has been proposed that forms three folds in the finish goods, one down the center and one along each side, and holds the goods like this so the end and side seams can be stitched. The side seams cannot overlap the end seams and the resultant tie is of clearly inferior quality, easily recognized as machine-made.